


Magic School Sucks

by Fall_Rosie



Series: Contrary To Popular Belief [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, I dont know what to tag, Multi, relationships are minor (Or Ill try to keep them minor anyways)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-03-24 19:37:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13818030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fall_Rosie/pseuds/Fall_Rosie
Summary: In a semi-magic world, eight heroes must rise up to defeat the ultimate evil.Part of that does include going to school, unfortunately. Hopefully that doesn't last long.(Name change: was originally Contrary to popular belief, questing is NOT fun)





	1. Lesson One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first work, and I didn't have anyone read it before posting, so its probably not the highest quality, sorry. Hope you enjoy it though.

A lot of humans, when they found out about the magic world, immediately set upon helping them integrate their world with the humans world. A few of them learned magic themselves, and even fewer discovered that they had magic in their ancestry already. The magic folk had always worried about when the humans found out, but it turned out that humans were mostly just happy to know that magic WAS real. There were some humans who did not welcome them, as there always was humans who didn't welcome some type of person, but the rest greeted the magic folk with open arms.

Wizards, Warlocks, and Mages welcomed a new magic people, Witches, and the Familiars found that while they weren't quite as human appearing as the other magic folk they were still quite welcome as long as they didn't kill anyone. Though they did have less rights, initially. (Stores selling Familiars were quite common and quite legal for a while, until laws were passed. Now the stores are rare and illegal.) Humans found that all creatures of myth and legend were quite real, dryads and nymphs were common visitors to campers, and cat sidhes found more milk set out for them at any home, and it was deemed mutually beneficial, this new addition to the world. The hidden world the magic folk had lived in was gone, that was the reason for their appearance it seemed, but a new world filled with peace and magic took its place.

And in that peace four came who would provide the future hope of the world, because something sinister was brewing. The Seer, one of these four, had seen it.

She Saw the future, of eight children setting out to stop the destruction of the universe, and she Saw that they would be alone in this venture, because the evil would have already came to them by the time she noticed. She Saw the Viod, and she Saw the children yet-to-be, a Seer like her but who would See Light, a Witch with the power to mold Time, a Warlock with Space, and a Witch with Breath and latent potential for more. And, just a bit older, just a bit more like their parents, the Mage Saw a Witch with technology at his fingertips, who learned both his Heart magic and his technology on his own thanks to his human heritage, a Wizard with Hope barely tappable, eventually stronger than one could believe, a Witch of Life that is so rare, and the Mage knew the last child as she knew herself; another Mage of Void abilities, but this one wouldn't See it, she would steal it and create using her powers. The Mage knew these children well, as she could See that three would be hers, and she knew great misfortune would fall upon them. And so she wept, and as she grew older she drank as much as she wept until she wept no more for need of more drink and forgot about what she had Seen.

And she didn't remember until the twin children of Time and Light were born, she hadn't noticed her first child had been one she had seen until the twins had come to her after their birth,and she Saw once more: what the father of them would become thanks to the evil she had Seen. She took his children (legally, of course, and she sobered up to do so) and fled to the other side of the country, to raise the four children there alone, until the memories of the great evil came back and she Saw and Saw and Saw and she couldn't unsee what she Saw until she fell to drink once again.

And this is what became of the Great Roxanna, Seer of Void of the Lalonde bloodline, and how four of the eight came to be in her care.

The man who fathered three of the four was a human, and did not seek to learn the magics Roxanna knew. He was a horrible person, Roxanna couldn't see it due to her drinking, and it didn't take long after Roxanna took the children for him to be taken by the Great Evil. He was hollowed out, carved to be used like the puppets he loved so much, and though there was evil inside him before it was now All of him, consuming him, until he became void of Heart and learned the magic without ever knowing. Roxanna had made a good choice in taking the children, even the one she had not born herself but had been born of another, more human, woman, because if left to the hands of Derrick the world would have been Doomed long before it had the chance to be saved.

Much older than Derrick and Roxanna were two who dabbled in the human science and the magics both, a Wizard of pure blood and a Witch born to a magic father by a human mother, adoptive siblings to each other though they didn't share a home. The Witch had her own son, who lacked magic ability but was still a Witch in the genetic sense, who had his own children; twins. Before these twins, however, the Wizard had created genetic copies of himself and the Witch, an experiment he had been attempting since they were children, who the Witch gave life to. The Wizard left them to the Witch's son, who raised them just as he did the twins when they came along, with love and cake he made from the Witch's family recipes. The Witch, known as Nanna (Her true name was Jane, but she relinquished it for her clone,) and the Wizard, known as Grandpa Harley (His true name was Jake, but he relinquished it as well,) died soon after the twins were born.

These events all happened within two years, and led to the lives the eight children lived.

Dirk, Roxy, Dave, Rose, Jane, Jake, John, and Jade, the eight of the prophecy, were created and put in the world in a way about as convoluted as you'd expect in a modern-fantasy setting.

 

And yet, does the story end there for the ones who will save the world? A wizard, a witch even, and especially the mage who Saw their coming herself would say yes. But that is a statement as false as saying I'm writing this down in a way that makes sense right now.

There will also be some Familiars on this journey to prevent the second world collapse, because their seniors were the ones unable to prevent the first.

The fairy world, the magic world, fell thanks to the same evil that threatens the human world, that the magic children are destined to face. Twelve Familiars faced this evil, to a much lesser extent, and failed to save their world, and had to give up a price of themselves to help the next chosen heroes. The pieces were just that; pieces, but each piece was something unique to the familiar; their magic.

These pieces of themselves latched onto the most similar hosts they could find, and when that happened the original twelve died to give extra life to the new twelve, who didn't exist as new heroes of destiny but as Guides to them. Though the Seer couldn't see them, Familiars everywhere would sense their coming and look to their help for the future of the world.

I, being neither a familiar nor any other magic folk, simply hope they will get along. The future of the world is something that is determined by that.

…

Also, they're my students, and I don't want them to fight in my class. This lesson would be hard to give if they're shouting at each other!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to update as often as possible, and also please comment if you see any mistakes (I.e. typos, ooc things, that stuff) because I'd like to make this as good as possible and improve my writing.


	2. Day 1

School was difficult, even in a magic school. Its because in magic school you still learn math and science and all that jazz, because otherwise the school would not function as a proper school should, and would turn into some wish-fulfilment fantasy bullshit an author would spit out to make an insanely popular series that wasn't nearly as good as it could have been if it wasn't obviously favoring one quarter of the schools population in its narrative. But that's a rant for another day. The point is, school is difficult. Especially magic school.

It was an ordinary school day, math tests and magic practice making for a straining one at the start, but that was normal. Having an aptitude for the one magic type you don't learn in school (apart from Blood magic) does that to a person. Dave was enjoying his first day back at school, because after teaching himself the latest time spell he's been having fun messing with John. It's not like anyone could stop him, so he did what he wanted. He knew it was probably not a smart idea without a Familiar to help with the energy cost, but the item he had enchanted would only last one more use anyways. The runes were already fading.

It was lunchtime, one of the many times where he got to see his roommate during school hours, and Dave was determined to make this last use the best.

He spotted his goofy looking nerd friend quickly, as he was walking to the table they all normally sat at. Dave's twin, Rose, was already there, as was Jade, who was Johns twin. Rose had thought it odd that they both were twins; Dave just thought it was cool he had something in common with his friends. John was quickly walking, glancing around as if he expected someone to do something. He hasn't seen Dave.

Quickly the Strider took out the enchanted object, a bottle cap, and spun it. After doing the cliche deed of tossing it in the air and catching it for show, because irony and all that jazz, of course. As the bottlecap spun, the world around him froze. He quickly walked over to John and pilfered his backpack for one of his many prank items, and after coming away with a Whoopie Cushion Dave placed it on the seat John always took. He would never notice; it was the perfect crime. Before the bottlecap stopped, Dave quickly zipped Johns backpack back up and returned to the spot the bottlecap lay. He stopped it with his foot, and watched as time resumed around him. John walked to the table, still looking around for Dave, and he didn't notice the cushion until he had sat on it.

The entire lunchroom (really just the tables closest to them) turned at the resounding noise. When John found the offending cushion, he gave an angry cry and glanced around once more. He finally found Dave, but Dave knew John couldn't pin this on him without some form of proof other than sheer coincidence. Dave didn't let his amusement show but for a small smirk on his face, and he picked up the bottle cap to throw away before walking over to the table. It was too small of an item to try and enchant again, but he knew it worked so its achieved its purpose.

“Sup,” Dave said as he sat in the spot next to John. “Also, John, that was hilarious! Whoever's been pranking you today is an expert.” John fumed, taking out his lunch (complete with a giant cake) as he glared at Dave. Rose and Jade watched with some amusement; they share Dave's schedule and have witnessed his pranks, though they didn't know he had done them.

“I know the person pranking me is you, I just don't know how or how to prove it. But when I learn, oooooh boy you're gonna be in for it.” John said, and the group laughs.

“John, I really don't think it's him! I'm sure it has to be someone in class who's got an aptitude for space, and you know Dave sucks at space spells!” Jade said, and she smiles the happy smile her friends have deemed the ‘warlock’ smile. She must have been communing with her souls again lately. Dream Jade must have had fun.

“Now, Jade, you know that Dave has an aptitude for time. It's only natural that he is devoid of skill with space, just as I am with void.” Rose interjects, and Jade nods.

“Dave is, 100% without a doubt, the person doing this. It's the only thing that makes sense!” John exclaimed, throwing his hands, and the food in them, over his head. The aforementioned food didn't stop there; it flew over the heads of the people at the next table and hit a boy who honestly looked like he had anger issues. “Shit! I didn't mean to do that!” Seeing what he had done, John ran over to the boy to apologize quickly.

Just watching the scene unfold from their table, it was pretty funny. John says something, likely an apology, and the boy responds loudly, if a bit indecipherable, and John responds in the same way, until it devolves into a shouting match. The shouting only lasted a few minutes, however, and they talked for only a minute before John walked back to the table with the disgruntled boy close behind.

Now everyone was staring at them.

John sat down smiling, and he patted the seat next to him as he looked expectantly at the other boy. The boy sits with a grumble, looking mildly embarrassed as he noticed that everyone had seen that little bout. Luckily the faculty was pretty lax about stuff like that.

“This is Karkat, guys, and he's new here!” John says, and the boy gives a short wave before staring down at the table with a frown. Dave was tempted to ask what was so disappointing about the table, but he held back for now. The guy had already went through one shouting match, and Dave was sure he would be willing to start another.

“Hi Karkat! I'm Jade, Johns twin sister! It's nice to meet you!” Jade extended her hand for a handshake, but Karkat ignored it and instead offered a nod and a ‘nice to meet you, too’ that didn't sound all that genuine, but that might just be how he is. Jade retracts her hand, not put off in the slightest. “I hope you like it here, it's a nice school!”

“Hello, Karkat. I am Rose, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. If it's not too rude, I would like to ask what you are.” Rose obviously stunned Karkat, he flinched back when she had asked, but before he could reply or Rose try to weasel out an answer John interjected.

“Oh my god Rose, you can't just ask what someone is! Its rude!” He gasped, his shock quite evident, and Rose gave a hum before returning to Johns cake, which she had begun to trace swirls into the frosting.

“Guess that leaves my introduction. Best for last, and all that, huh? Names Dave. Just a warning, John's been getting pranked all day, so don't laugh around him or he’ll think you did it, like some dude with glasses who thinks pranks are the shit.” Dave gives his name last, and only by sheer willpower alone he doesn't start rambling on and on about nothing. It's fine when he's with his pals, but Karkat gotta prove himself worthy of Strider certified rants before he can get one himself.

“It HAS gotta be you whos pranking me, Dave! No one else is in every one of my classes, except Rose and Jade, but Rose’s pranks are convoluted and Jade's pranks are obvious!” John replies, and the two of them devolved into mindless bickering over pranks as Rose turned back to Karkat.

“Karkat, you don't mind answering my question, do you? In exchange, I'll tell you which magic folk I am.” Rose knew he could probably guess her status of Mage, even without knowing her place in the Lalode bloodline, but she got the sense he wouldn't say if he didn't feel it was an equal exchange. Karkat scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

“You're a Mage, even a human could sense that.” He said, and Rose was almost startled by the sureness in his voice. Even the most magically attuned wizard wasn't entirely sure guessing her blood without her family name, but she pushed those thoughts aside to think of a new offer.

“I could tell you everyone else's blood, then. John and Dave wouldn't mind, I'm sure. Jade normally doesn't care.” Rose was sure she had him this time. Mages were easy to guess, other magic folk were not. But Karkat still didn't agree.

“I can guess what they are, but it doesn't matter anyways. I'll tell you what I am, if you agree to leave me alone about it.” He seemed annoyed, but Rose was just glad to know she had broke him. Her studies of magic folk behavior would go much smoother if she had another subject to study.

“I won't speak of it again, Karkat.” She agreed solemnly. Karkat obviously didn't believe her, she guessed he could tell her intentions.

“I'm a witch, okay? Now please leave me alone about this.” Rose narrowed her eyes. Something about his words seemed untrue, but she had said she wouldn't bother him about it if he told her. She let it be, for now. If something came up that gave evidence of his false words she would certainly bring it up again, but for now she was fine with pretending to believe him. He wouldn't stick around if he knew her distrust.

Meanwhile, Dave and Johns mindless bickering had ceased, and the time for lunch to end was growing near. After lunch came Language Arts and then History, and finally everyone was released to their new dorms to unpack and unwind. At least for their table, though Rose didn't know Karkat schedule as of yet. He may not have the same one as them.

“Karkat, may I look at your schedule? I would like to compare it to my own, to see which classes we may have together.” She asked, and he reluctantly surrendered the paper hearing his classes for the day. The B schedules hadn't been handed out as of yet, the school had a block schedule to make the classes longer for those who needed it, but the A schedule was enough for now. Rose was proud to say this was due to her letters to the superintendent, due to her wish for more magic practice time.

Karkat schedule showed that he had History and Mathematics along with them, but his magic period was a remedial magic class instead of the adept magic Rose had. He also didn't have Language Arts that day, and instead had a class called “Aptitude Suppression” Rose didn't recognize in any of the available schedules. Before she could ask, however, he had already taken his schedule back and was preparing to leave.

“Karkat? Where are you going?” John asked as Karkat started to walk off. Karkat paused and turned, looking down at his schedule before speaking.

“I need to find my class, I'm still new here you know. Where would room 39 be?” He asked, his tone coming out more aggravated than he probably meant it to be. John pointed out the way before returning to his friends, and Karkat left.

“We're supposed to meet the Familiars class tomorrow, aren't we? Because we didn't have the Familiars 101 class today.” Jade asked, and Rose quickly confirmed it. “I can't wait! I wonder what Familiars are our age, and what they're like. Jake said that he's seen them before, at night, and that there's a Vampire! I didn't know Vampires could be familiars!”

“Well, it entirely depends on whether they were a shape-shifting familiar before they were bit. I heard that they had a dragon, and I'm rather curious about it. Dragons are increasingly rare, you know.” Rose replied, and Dave thought that a dragon sounded cool. They weren't supposed to bond with Familiars just yet, but it wasn't exactly forbidden to plan for that day. And if you go behind their backs and bond with a familiar before they give you an ok, they can't really do anything about it. But familiars have to be more than just ‘cool’, they have to be someone you get along with and someone who could help you with your magic. As a witch, which Dave was, a dragon wouldn't help with magic. Dragons are more suited for Mages, though Rose would most likely pick a familiar like a kelpie or changeling. She's not one for practicality.

“I want to meet them, honestly. Familiars are cool! I found a satyr when we were at summer camp once, he was just running around in the forest! I think he was from the Familiars camp we were told not to go to.” John added his bit into the conversation, and his friends listened attentively as he recalled the story of the silly satyr he saw. The bell rang just as he finished, and they all got up to go to class together. They continued talking about the familiars when they could, and when they got to History their conversation had devolved into musing about what it would be like meeting the familiars. When they met Karkat again in that class and they asked him about what he thought the familiars would be like, he got mad and ranted about how it was rude to talk about other people you hadn't even met, and that they should wait until they met them, and a lot more stuff Dave stopped paying attention to as Rose stopped to analyze every word.

The teacher, a kind looking man who called himself the Mayor, greeted Dave in the usual way. A smile and a wave, no words. Words are not his tool for his classes. He greeted the other students as they trickled in, and once it was time for class to start he closed the door. He started with introducing Karkat, waving people's attention to him and writing his name on the board, and then started the lesson for today. He was human, so he didn't have the use of magic in his lessons, but he used a projector and had a PowerPoint prepared. He chose a random person to read from the slides, though Dave knew it wasn't random in the slightest. Mayor always made John the first reader of the year, and then he goes through the alphabet, and he let's Rose finish the years reading. It’s his secret method, and only Dave was told of it. Dave was pretty sure everyone knew anyways. The days lesson was about Blood Magic. They had never had a lesson about magic types before in history, so everyone was pretty confused. Dave didn't know why, but he noticed Karkat looked pretty uncomfortable about the topic.

“Blood magic, as sinister as it sounds, is not anything too terribly bad. Blood magic is the magic of emotion, family, and chosen family, but it is generally a magic type that is deemed bad by many people. An aptitude for it is uncommon in most magic folk, and doesn't seem to appear in Familiars at all. No documented accounts of a Familiars aptitude for it exists.”

“Blood magic, also, does not work in the same way as other magic does. Blood magic is a thing you are born with or without the ability of using, and is generally not controllable. The most common form it appears in is in the ability to sense what other people are feeling. The reason why it was deemed so horrible to have is theorized to be its uncontrollable and unharnessable quality. Spells using its power are nonexistent, and it does not seem to be able to be used in spells.“

“In past records in the past fifty years, blood magic users have been accused of developing spells that control other people. No proof for these claims have been given, but the government had acted upon them nonetheless. Blood magic users, after several laws were passed, had their powers restricted and were told that any usage of them that was discovered would be an instant life sentence. Classes are given to children who appear to have Blood magic so that it is suppressed, and though it has become apparent that blood magic users are unable to control their abilities these programs still exist. There are little to no records on how these programs operate.”

The last slide just read “Any questions will be answered shortly.” Unfortunately, everyone had questions, but Rose only had questions for a certain boy who had “Magic Suppression” listed as a class on his roster.

“Karkat.”

“Fuck off.”

“Karkat.”

“What about fuck off do you not understand.”

“Karkat.”

“Okay! Fine! What the fucking fuck do you fucking want?”

“You're a Blood magic user, aren't you?”

“Never mind. I don't care, I'm fucking leaving. This is not a subject I give a single fuck to talk about, fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck the shitting fuck off.”

“Hmm. A yes, then. What do you do in the suppression class?” Karkat paled, and Rose half expected him to start shrieking about how it's none of her business and how she should fuck off, but that didn't happen. Instead he looked down at the desk he sat in.

“I wasn't told. I don't think the teacher came yet.” He replied, and then he stood and asked to leave the class for a moment. The Mayor, as kind as he is, released him. Rose wouldn't bother him any longer, she knew this was an escape from any further questions. She focused her attentions on the questions being answered by the Mayor (he was writing them on the board) while Jade watched the door concerned.

“Why'd he run off like that? Rose, you were talking to him, do you know?” Jade asked. Rose raised her hand and waved off Jades concern.

“He's fine. I expect he's just running from my questions.” She responded, and Jade frowned. Roses questions can get pretty intrusive, she knew.

“I'm going after him. Just to make sure he's as okay as you say he is.” Jade didn't exactly believe Rose when she said he was okay, because they didn't know Karkat all that well. She excused herself from the room and left, looking down the halls both ways before finding Karkat sitting at one of the windows. Normal school classes took place upstairs, and they were on the second floor, and he was watching a familiar class outside. Jade had noticed that all the familiars classes took place outside, which didn't seem fair but she guessed it couldn't be helped. Jade didn't say anything as she sat next to him, instead choosing to watch the class with him.

Two of the familiars sat off to the side as another jumped up to stand on their seat, bowing as the centaur standing next to them said something and tried to get them to sit down once again. The familiar on the chair transformed, and from where the two were they could only barely see as a tiny black cat jumped onto the centaurs back. It was clear the class was used to this, and that they all knew each other well. One of the two standing off to the side transformed themselves, becoming a white scaly beast that was just barely larger than the cat. The cat jumped down, and the two play-fought as the centaur looked on dejectedly and the other familiar cheered the dragon on. It seemed like fun, until the rest of the class joined in. There were eleven of them, and it was clear they all were good friends.

“The cat will win, if you watch you'll see.” Karkat spoke, and Jade nodded. She didn't know how he knew this, but she'd trust him. And, after a minute of the whole class tussling, the teacher started shouting at them. The first to slink away was the cat, who transformed and sat in their seat pretending to have been there the whole time. The teacher kept shouting until the fighting stopped, and then walked over to the cat person and patted their head, obviously praising them. The class was most likely glaring at them, but it was all good natured when the centaur very obviously, if quietly, scolded them. The class continued on, the teacher talking about something or other. Karkat stood up.

“We should probably go back to class.” He said, and Jade stood with a hum of agreement. Together they walked back in, and Karkat pointedly sat farther away from Rose than he previously did. Jade was at least happy that he wasn't more upset than he was. She didn't want to lose a new friend.

 

The end of class came, and they were released to their dorms. The dorm doors had the names of the people who were supposed to occupy them, three to a room. John was happy to find that Dave was still his roommate, and that this year instead of Bobby (He was kind of a jerk) they would share a room with Karkat.

“I call top bunk!” John said as he immediately started to climb up the ladder. The room was small, just barely big enough for three people to live in comfortably. There were three desks, one along each wall, and on either side of the door were the beds. There was a bunk bed to the right upon entering, and a regular single bed on the left. Immediately Karkat had claimed the single bed, leaving Dave with the bottom bunk. The three of them began unpacking, though Karkat had considerably less in his bags (which had been carried in for them by the faculty while they went to their classes) than John and Dave had in theirs. When questioned about it, he told them to fuck off. John found it pretty funny, but Dave thought it was a bit of an unjustified reaction. “Oh, this year is going to be so great, I can feel it! Don’t you guys agree?” Johns enthusiasm was lost on Karkat, who grumbled something incomprehensible, and Dave only responded with a shrug.

“I guess. I think it’ll at least be interesting.” He said as he took the desk farthest from the door and set up his turntables. “We’re meeting the familiars tomorrow, right? That should be fun, I guess.” He tested out one of the tracks to see if it worked before shutting it off, knowing it can be pretty loud and his music mixing time is limited to weekends if only because it’s the considerate thing to do. No one complains on the weekend because they’re all in town or clubs are meeting.

“You guess??? I’m sure It will be loads of fun! We’ll meet the familiars, make some new friends, and then we’ll spend class time hanging out!” John responded, jumping off his bunk and landing with a thud.

“You two are insufferable, could you make less noise or am I never going to be able to sleep?” Karkat snapped, sitting up in his bed. “And I doubt that any of the familiars would hang out with you. You’re a non-familiar, and they tend to treat you like one.”

“Okay, one, why are you going to sleep so early? Schools just barely ended, and we didn’t even go to dinner yet! And two, what do you know about familiars? You can’t say anything until we meet them!” John rolled his eyes as he went to sit at his desk.

“I know more than you know, John. And I am sleeping now because I tend to be unable to sleep when it is actually time to sleep. I can skip dinner, and just sleep, because I fucking want the energy to last the next day. I would appreciate it if you would be the tiniest fucking bit quieter so I can manage that.” Karkat was a very angry person, very much all the time; John was quickly getting that fact banged into his head. He flopped back down and buried his head under his blanket, and it was all very dramatic to Dave.

“Okay, then. We’ll be quieter. Should we go to dinner now, or wait for him to wake up before going?” John asked, turning back to Dave. They decided to go and bring back some leftovers for Karkat to eat just in case he doesn’t wake up until they’re sleeping, and they met Jade and Rose at the dining hall.

“Wheres Karkat?” Jade asked, and Rose hummed curiously. John explained that he was sleeping, while Dave made his way around the lines getting a little bit of everything to eat. He also did Karkat a favor and asked the lunch ladies for an extra plate for him, and they said they’d keep it warm until he took it back to his dorm. When he got back to his friends, they had found their table and were discussing the proper way to do a Breeze spell.

“You’ve got to encompass the Breeze until you get the spell done. No strict rules for how you accomplish that, just let go of feeling and just do the spell. That’s my understanding of it, anyways.” John said, and Rose rolled her eyes. Jade also seemed a little perturbed by his explanation. “Not like, stop feeling, though. Just let the feelings flow, don’t cling to them, and yeah.”  
“Speaking of feelings, since Dave is back I would like to tell you all something I’ve learned about our new friend.” Rose obviously saw there being no end to their arguing over how to do magic with Breeze aspects and changed the subject, but obviously the new subject wasn’t something anyone was all that keen to talk about.

“Rose, I know you’re all about oversharing other people's business, but I dont think its a good idea to talk about a dude we barely met behind his back.” Dave said as he let Jade take some food off his plate.

“Yeah, you know when you were just prying into his business you upset him. Talking about it when he probably doesn't want you to? I don't think it's a good idea.” Jade agreed, and Rose rolled her eyes.

“It's not as if I'm telling anyone other than you, and you're certainly not the gossiping type.” She responded. It wasn't as if they had expected to talk her down successfully, but they tried. Well, John didn't, because he is somewhat of a gossiper himself. Rose and him got along very well in that regard. “You know how we learned about Blood magic earlier today? Karkat is, in fact, a Blood magic user himself.” She gave the classic Lalonde smile, smug while also insincere. She was obviously proud that she had dug up that info.

“Rose, from what we've learned today, he probably wouldn't want us to know that stuff.” Jade scolded, and Rose shrugged, as if she didn't particularly care about possibly trodding on forbidden ground. John just looked fascinated, as if this wasn't something that Karkat wouldn't have wanted them to know.

“Aptitude for magic isn't that important. I have an aptitude for Light, Dave has an aptitude for Time, and you have an aptitude for Space. You don't care about me telling others what your aptitudes are, so why would you care about me telling you what his is?” Jade shook her head, obviously done trying to convince Rose that this wasn't a cool thing to do. Dave would just have to ask Roxy and Dirk to do something about her behavior later. They know what chaos she's caused due to this terrible habit.

“I think I'll go, now. I don't want to hear more of other people's secrets.” Jade gave Rose a pointed look as she swept out of the cafeteria to take a walk by the forest. Dave didn't know why she did that, because everyone knew that the forest was dangerous to walk around in the evening time. She “knew” she was safe, however, and Dave didn't question what she knew. She had the wisdom of thousands of souls, after all. He knew she always took a walk after dinner, however, which was all he really needed to know.

“Yeah, I think I'm finished eating. Have the rest, I'll go grab Karkats food and bounce.” Dave said, and he left John and Rose alone in the cafeteria to gossip. It was all they did the first day, after all. The dorm still held only Karkats sleeping form and their personal belongings, and Dave had a bit of difficulty figuring out how to keep the food warm for when Karkat wakes up. After a moments deliberation, Dave took out the book he had accidentally stolen over the summer (he had checked it out of the school library and had forgotten to turn it back in) to look for a suitable time spell he thought could do the trick. After a few minutes of skimming the pages, he found one. He wrote the runes on a sticky note and attached it to the plate, speaking the activation word carefully (because mispronunciation would be VERY explosive, as he had discovered.) When the steam rising from the plate froze, he knew he had been successful. He left another note next to the plate, telling Karkat the deactivation word (as well as to be very careful about the pronunciation) and that he should tell him what he wanted from dinner next time he went to bed early. Dave wasn't very fond of his new friend, but he wasn't a rude roommate. And he wasn't about to be an absolute douchebag when he had just barely met the guy.

After a few minutes of studying on his own, John had returned from dinner and joined him. Dave took some time to practice more Time magics, and John became an unwilling practice partner. There was a lot of small practices, stealing his pencil from his hand without him noticing as he was writing, “teleporting” around the room, easy things. When they had finally went to bed, Karkat still wasn't up. Dave added more to his note, something along the lines of ‘wow you sure sleep a lot for a dude who claims to have trouble sleeping’ and a suggestion to study some after he wakes up because classes tend to move pretty fast. John also added something Dave didn't bother to read, and then they went to bed.

 

After what felt like only a few seconds of sleep Dave woke up from a horrible dream, one he didn't care to remember because he knew it wasnt a figment of his imagination, greeted by the mutterings of a room mate just a few feet to the right of him. It was obvious Karkat was trying to be quiet, but it was obviously a struggle for the loud person he was. Though Dave couldn't see, it was too dark for that, he could make out that Karkat was holding something that looked, strangely, like a book.

“Are you reading?” Dave asked, making Karkat jump. He obviously didn't expect them to wake up anytime soon.

“Yeah, I am. Why are you awake?” He responded, his voice only growing a smidgen louder. It was very easy to hear him. Dave sat up in his bed and reached for his sunglasses, before realizing that he wouldn't be able to see at all if he put them on and choosing to just turn to face Karkat, who was still staring at the book he held in his hands.

“Bad dreams, yknow, bane of the Strider-Lalonde existence. How are you reading? Its too dark in here for me to see anything.” Karkat looked up, and though Dave couldn't see his expression he could tell he was confused by his tone.

“It is? I didn't notice.” He said. Dave would have thought it was sarcasm if he didn't sound so genuinely confused. “Wait, fuck, what time is it?” Karkat muttered, and Dave watched as he got out of his bed to find a clock. Dave reached under his pillow, where he kept his phone, and checked the time there.

“Two in the morning. Why, how long have you been up?” He asked, and Karkat whipped around to face him, as if he hadnt expected Dave to answer. Honestly, Dave wouldn't be surprised if he didn't, Karkat seemed to be used to not having anyone reply. Dave wondered why.

“I think it was about ten when I woke up. I should be fine, as long as I take a nap before class, maybe get some coffee or something, oh I wish Nep had told me where she got her energy supplements… those would have been good to have.” Karkat kept muttering to himself, pacing back and forth as Dave watched him curiously.

“Pacing is definitely gonna help with energy conservation.” Dave said, and Karkat stopped to most likely glare at him. “If you can't sleep now, for whatever reason, you should probably stick to reading until you can.” He added. Karkat stayed where he was for a moment before moving back to his bed and picking up his book and starting to read again. After a few minutes of some semi-silence, Karkat incoherent mumblings about whatevers happening in the book, Dave decided he was bored enough to talk. He wasn't going to sleep again until he had his dream out of his mind, anyways.

“What's your book about?” He asked, and Karkat paused his mumblings to reply. Dave almost didn't catch it.

“A girl named Anna meets a theif in her store one day, and after that day he keeps coming back. Not to steal anything, but to give her gifts until eventually she puts together that the gifts are pieces of a puzzle he made to lead her to his identity, and then a cop comes into the picture after having learned of the theifs gift-giving escapades. Its an interesting concept, but the story is poorly written and the relationship between the theif and Anna honestly has no chemistry, and the cop would be a much better fit for her.” Karkat would most likely have ranted more, but at that point he had noticed that Dave was struggling to keep a straight face.

“Its a romance novel? You know, I never would have expected a guy like you would like romance novels.” He said, laughing. Karkat huffed, setting down the book and turning to face Dave.

“Whatever ‘a guy like me’ is, I don't care. Romance novels are good, and I shouldn't be judged for liking them. So fuck off and let me read in peace if you're just going to laugh.” He said, and Dave waved him off.

“Okay, okay, chill dude. Just didn't expect it, ‘s all. I won't judge you're taste in books, much.” Dave was sure he had earned himself a certain rude gesture from Karkat, but soon enough Karkat was back into his book and Dave was left just staring at the wall.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for the food, earlier.” Karkat said after a while.

“No prob, dude.” Dave responded. “‘Night.” He yawned, just before he fell asleep.

“‘Night, Dave.”


	3. Day 2

Karkat was already awake by the time John was up. He was reading a book, it was written in a language John didn't recognize, and he only looked up from it for a second when John said Good Morning. When he put a bookmark in and set the book aside, John expected Karkat to greet him and join him in a morning trip to the cafeteria for the amazing breakfast.

“Wake me up before class, I need to sleep.” Karkat said, surprising John, before stuffing his book under his pillow and going back to the realm of dreams. John was, frankly, upset. But he wouldn't bother Karkat if he wanted to be a lazy ass, because he could be a better person and show him not to be a lazy ass. John would just have to wake Dave up and go to breakfast with him. Showing up to breakfast alone would be lame, after all.

John climbed down the ladder well aware that jumping down would anger Karkat, and that he had a heavy-looking book ready to be thrown at the next person who bothered him, and shook Dave awake. His sunglasses-wearing friend did not appreciate it, he could tell, but the promise of breakfast quickly pacified him. John was good at managing his friends, almost leader-like, though he would never willingly be a leader. He's just their friend.

  
Already at breakfast was Rose and Jade, who greeted the two boys before promptly getting in line. They may mooch off each other at lunch and dinner, but the pancakes they served at breakfast were good enough no one would willingly share them. The other breakfast items weren't as good, though. Dave talked to the lunch ladies, probably getting food for Karkat again, and John got his food.

“Today's the day,” Jade said when they all got back to their table, each with their own plates of delicious breakfast items. She broke a piece of bacon in half, and dipped it in syrup, and popped it in her mouth before continuing. “We meet the familiars today. Isn't that exciting?” She smiled.

“Yeah! Really, truly can't wait! When we get our schedules, we have to check to see if we have the same class, I wouldn't want to meet them without you guys!” John said with his own goofy grin. The pair started a back and forth conversation on how cool it was going to be, and how fun it was going to be, while Dave and Rose chose to instead focus on their food. John and Jade could exhaust themselves with their excitement just fine on their own, they didn't need the Strilondes help.

“Where's our delightful new friend, Dave? I thought John would have dragged him out this morning.” Rose questioned, leaning forward to rest her face on her hand, curiosity clearly showing. Dave didn't want to answer, knowing Rose to be the one to analyze any little thing and that Karkat most likely wouldn't appreciate it, but refusing to answer would make her move on to her favorite subject; Dave himself. Dave wasn't in the mood for her shenanigans that morning.

“He's asleep, Rose. Even John wouldn't wake up Mr. Anger-Incarnate, this early it would give everyone in a 100 mile radius a headache. He's like a ticking time bomb, Rose, any little thing could set him off at any given moment. I, personally, don't want to be the one to set off that bomb. I don't think setting off that bomb should be a thing anyone does. Rose, I know this is the kind of thing you wake up every day for, but please don't attempt to set off that bomb today. Or at least not until this afternoon.” Rose gave a hum, as if she found the thought of not irritating Karkat amusing. Well, it almost was. Dave had only known Karkat for a day, and it seemed practically impossible not to irritate him.

“Wasn’t he asleep during dinner yesterday? I wonder why he would be sleeping now.” Rose hummed in thought, tapping her chin as she turned to face the general direction of the dorms. Dave could tell what she was thinking; she was planning on bothering him herself. Unfortunately, that would mean Shouty would be angry and, well, shouty. Dave didn't want to deal with that just before class. Skirting around the subject would be impossible at this point. “Do you know, Dave?”

“He stayed up all night, Rose. He’s taking a nap before class so he doesn't pass out when he's doing geometry or whatever.” Her sickeningly sweet and ‘innocent’ tone made him reply, if only so he wouldn’t hear any more of it. Rose leaned back into her seat, smirk on her face, satisfied that she had gotten an answer.

“Oh? How’d you know this?” She asked, raising one, singular eyebrow in a manner Dave didn’t appreciate.

“I woke up at two in the morning and he was awake.” Dave started to eat his food, hoping it would deter his twins curiosity. He should have known it wouldn’t.

“Hm. I suppose you both had a nice chat, then.” She said, starting to cut up her pancakes into even portions. “I would so like to talk to him myself, and ask why he has so much trouble with sleep that he must forget meals.”

“Don’t bother, Rose. I can pretty much garuntee he won't answer you. But forget that shit, I just remembered something. I had one of those dumb dreams again, you know, the ones that make you feel like shit? Yeah, one of those.” Rose gave Dave a sympathetic look, because she too had those horrible dreams at times, and nodded. They didn’t talk about the dreams; they knew what they were and why they happened, and they knew what they meant. No use trying to hammer out specifics.

His sister finally let him be, instead focusing on her food, and then the twins spent the rest of their breakfast in relative silence. When it came time to leave, Dave retrieved the food he had requested for Karkat (plus a coffee since Karkat said he would probably need it) and left back for the dorm with John in tow.  
“I didn't know they served coffee here.” John said, reaching for the plate in Dave's hand to try to pick a stray berry on it. Dave held it further away from John, which caused his friend to pout.

“They usually don't. But the lunch ladies are cool, and they generally agree to a few pumps of caffeine if you say you're tired enough.” Dave shook the coffee slightly, a gesture to add to his point. “Also, you should remember this is Mr. Shouty’s food. I don't think he’ll appreciate you stealing anything.” John stopped attempting to steal from the plate, instead choosing to roll his eyes and walk faster.

“I'll just ask him then. I don't think he’ll mind one singular blueberry, but fine!” John, obviously, was a bit miffed. But it's hard to take him seriously when he's mad over a blueberry. John burst into the room, holding the door open for Dave because he's not an animal, even if his “cool” friend is being a jerk. “Hey, Karkat! Get up! We need to get our schedules and head to class now!” John shouted, slamming the door closed.

“Dude, you're gonna regret that.” Dave said as Karkat jolted awake, bleary eyes opened wide in a terrified expression. Karkat jumped up and glanced around, almost like a cornered animal, before remembering where he was. Fortunately, he was too tired to shout, and instead he mumbled quite a few long-winded insults and curses at John.

“Morning, Karkat, I got you breakfast. Again, didn't know what you'd like, so let me know what to get after today, if this is gonna be the routine. Also, got you coffee. Figured you'd need it.” Karkat glanced warily at the plate and cup in Dave's hands before taking them, mumbling a thanks before sitting back down and tearing into the bacon.

“Hey, Karkat, can I have a blueberry or something?” John asked, reaching towards toe plate before Karkat whisked it away.  
“No, fuck you, I don't even like blueberries but I'm going to eat them just to spite you.” John was incredulous.

“What? What did I do?”

“You fucking woke me up in the rudest way possible, dick. So, as I said previously, fuck you.” Karkat stuck out his tongue, a childish move but a classic, and continued eating. Even the blueberries he didn't like were gone when he was finished. He set the plate down next to himself on the bed, and began sipping at the coffee, which was surprisingly still warm. “Thanks, again, and for future reference I would prefer less fruit, except apples are fine. The bacons good, too.”

“You're not gonna go to breakfast with us tomorrow?” John asked, and Karkat rolled his eyes.

“Obviously not, unless I can fix my sleeping problems in less than 24 hours. Which, most likely, will not happen.” He responded, before getting off the bed and walking to the door. He was still in the sweater he wore yesterday, and the pants too. He apparently hadn't changed. Assumedly he was too tired to.

“Hey, Karkat, what was that book you were reading earlier? I didn’t recognize that language, what was it?” John asked. Karkat scowled, fidgeting with his sleeves.

“Fuck off, it's none of your business.” He mumbled, before quickly exiting the dorm. John glanced over at Dave, who just shrugged. He didn't know the book was in a different language, but he didn't really care. If Karkat’s multilingual its not a big deal. John followed him out into the hall, where Karkat was staring at the map they had hung up on the news board. He was obviously confused by it, and John couldn't blame him. The schools maps make zero sense.

“The way to the office is over here, just follow Dave and I.” John said, choosing to ignore his new pals rudeness to instead help him in his time of need. John waved Karkat over, who scowled but complied, and led the way to the front office, which was supposed to be handing out the schedules for the day.

"Karkat, when you get your schedule we should compare them! I want to know if I can prove you wrong about Familiars.” Karkat scoffed.

“Like I said, they wouldn't want to become friends with any non-familiars, let alone you. Unless they're some sort of masochist.” Karkat muttered the last part under his breath, but John still caught it. Vaguely offended, he stopped and turned around with a disbelieving frown on his face.

“I'll have you know I'm a delightful person to be friends with! Right Dave?” The two glanced over to him, and Dave gave a slight nod. John beamed at his friends agreement, and smugly turned back to Karkat with victory speech prepared. Karkat had already began though.

“I'm not saying anything against you, not right at this moment at least. I'm just telling you that non-familiars are not high on the list of people Familiars befriend. Not impossible though, obviously.” Karkat held his hands up in mock-surrender, pacifying John enough that the group started walking again.

"Though you are annoying, so I don't think they'd even try to.” John believed he heard a bit of humor in his tone, so he didn't stop again. If Karkat was joking about John being annoying, then John would take that as a sign that they were quickly becoming good friends. And if it wasn't him just joking, then, well, John would just have to prove him wrong.

 

“Like you're so delightful.” Dave responded, deadpan, causing John to break out laughing as Karkat shrugged.

“Eh, that's a fair point I guess.”

The three of them continued on to the office, falling into conversation as if they had known each other for ages though they had only met the other day. It wasn't that hard; John was easy to talk to, Dave could carry half a conversation on his own, and though Karkat wasn't as socially fluent he caught on quick to the group's way of friendship.

They got their schedules and compared them, finding that while they had to go their separate ways initially they would be meeting up in their second class for Familiars 101. Karkat wasn't nearly as excited as John and Dave.

 

The Familiars 101 class takes place outside, which should have been expected. Jade didn't know what she had been thinking when she thought they were staying inside. She should have remembered that the familiars were taught outside, so they had more room. Or, she thought that was the reason. She didn't really know.

Rose and Dave were already outside waiting, and Jade had been sent to retrieve Karkat while John ran up to his dorm to grab a book he had forgotten. She knew Karkat would most likely had already left his class, but she would check there for him anyways. And, lo and behold, he was in his class still. He was working hard at his desk, seemingly having stuck behind to finish classwork.

“I'll be out in a minute, Jade, I have one question left.” He said without raising his head, before Jade could even get a foot in the doorway. Unsure of how he knew she was there, Jade chose to stand by the door frame to wait. True to his word, he was out quickly and the two of them started to walk out to the fields. “So what made you come get me, did I take too long to get to that godforsaken class?” Karkat said, in an irritated manner Jade thought was probably his usual one.

“No, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get lost! Since your new and all, and the schools pretty big.” Jade could feel that Karkat would take a bit of offense, and of course he would, so she cut him off before he could remark. “Also, I think that it would be better if we all go to class as a group. It makes us look cool, I think, and you need to be there with us!” Karkat rolled his eyes, obviously not convinced.

“Why?” He asked, and Jade turned to give him a big smile.

“You’re our friend, duh. You're part of the group now, whether you like it or not!” She punched his shoulder, in a friendly manner of course, receiving an ‘ow’ in response. “And, honestly, I got the feeling that you didn't want to go to this class. I dunno why, but my souls were telling me last night that you can't miss this class, as if you were going to ditch!”

Karkat fidgeted with his sweater sleeves, and Jade suspected that her souls were right once again. She stayed quiet, hoping that enough silence would get Karkat to admit that he was planning on skipping.

“I… Was. Planning on, um, skipping the Familiars class.” Karkat gave in to the pressure of silence, and Jade patted his shoulder in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

“Don't worry about it! You aren't skipping now, so it doesn't matter! I won't pester you about why right now, and I won't tell the others either so they’ll leave you alone. Rose is kind of nosey, if you hadn't noticed.” Jade held back a laugh at her understatement, and Karkat snorted.

“I have, thanks.” He replied, and Jade skipped ahead a few steps.

“We have to hurry up, I don't wanna be late!” She said, and Karkat sped up to match her pace.

Dave, Rose, and John were waiting by the doors to the field when Jade and Karkat had finally found them. They walked out the doors together, though Karkat insisted on being a distance behind the group. Jade kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't run away.

The class was small, only six students other than their group were there, but that was only the non-familiars. They sat in chairs set up ten feet away from another set of eleven chairs, which were oddly shaped and in many sizes and supposedly for the Familiars.  
The Familiars were not in their seats, instead milling about everywhere a non-familiar wasn't. They were keeping their distance, it seemed. Karkat may have been right after all. Speaking of, Karkat looked somewhat nervous, and Jade would have wondered why, but she wasn't focusing on him at that moment.

There was a fairy and a pixie, the two only distinguishable as different due to the antenna on their heads (a fairy's antenna are normally fuzzy, like many moths. A pixies antenna don’t have fuzz) and the wings attached to their backs. (pixies had more angular wings, while fairy's had rounder ones.) There was a satyr talking to an imp, the satyr sat in a wheelchair, and next to them a water nymph and a changeling, (only the color of the eyes told his species apart from a non-familiar) as well as another off to the side that if not for the shimmer of his skin that seemed too unnatural you would think he was a non-familiar. Jade couldn't guess his species, though she assumed he probably didn't belong on land, so she moved on to see a vampire talking to another girl who had horns growing out of her head, which she identified as a dragon, and then finally a centaur who had let a girl wearing a cat-eared beanie sit on his back and braid his hair. Jade guessed that she were a cat sidhe; she had heard they always had two or three each year and the girl seemed to enjoy cats a lot.

The cat sidhe braiding their friends hair froze for a moment, tilting her head up slightly as she seemed to sniff the air. She said something excitedly to the centaur, who replied in a seemingly less excited way, and then the cat sidhes head whipped around, directed at Jade and her friends. Karkat began to slink away, and the girl spotted him quickly.

“Karkitty!” The cat sidhe shouted as she jumped off the centaurs back and barreled towards Karkat, who resigned himself to the attack when she tackled him in a big hug. Her shout drew the attention of the other familiars, who weren't as excited as her (the pixie even rolled her eyes when she saw him) but still drifted over to join her in greeting Karkat. “We haven't seen you in ages Karkitty! Where were you? I was pawfully worried, why didn't you message me? Why didn't you contact Kanaya, at least? You could have even called Terezi, she would've picked up!”

The cat released Karkat, and finally noticed his friends standing just a few feet away. Her nose scrunched up, and they waved the rest of the familiars back to where they were previously. “Karkitty, come with me! We have a lot of catching up to do!” She said, pulling his wrist gently. Karkat didn't move immediately, instead turning to his friends.

“I've gotta go, Nepeta won't give up until I comply, sorry. I'll explain later, or I'll try to.” He said. Rose, obviously, wasn't going to let him get away with that weak reply, but Nepeta (they all assumed that she was the cat-girl who had greeted him so enthusiastically) dragged him away too soon for any further questions. Rose glanced at her brother, as if expecting him to have an answer to the questions inside her head, but of course he was just as confused as everyone else. Jade was still watching the Familiars, wonder and amazement in her eyes, as John led the group to sit on the non-familiars side of class. Rose joined Jade in her Familiar watching, but not due to any of the same reasons her friend had for staring.

Rose was watching Karkat, who was greeted by all the Familiars in a, well, familiar manner. The centaur stood besides Nepeta -who still hadn’t let go of Karkats hand- hand protectively gripping her shoulder as he gave Karkat a curt nod in greeting. The pixie walked over to the dragon, whispering something that made the dragon shake her head before she walked up to Karkat and gave him a hug, and though the pixie was obviously displeased she walked up and greeted the boy by punching him in the shoulder. It was not good natured, obviously, as in return she got a rude gesture and the dragon shook her head in a disappointed manner. The vampire came up next, giving Karkat yet another hug, and the shimmering boy with the worst haircut Rose had ever seen greeted him next. Then the changeling and nymph, then the fairy, then the satyr. The imp stayed a distance away, but waved hello anyways, and just stood watching as the group began to seemingly ask Karkat many things, but he seemed to refuse to answer.

The imp worried Rose; she got the sense that something was very, very bad about him. She wondered if that was budding Seer senses or just paranoia.

The familiars drifted apart once again, separating into their own groups, and soon Karkat was just left with Nepeta and the vampire. They pulled a few of the familiars chairs out of their rows and sat in them, beginning a quick conversation that seemed important to Karkat. He was almost nervous, though Rose couldn’t see all the subtle movements that would truly signify a nervous mood she could tell. Nepeta and the vampire both nodded in agreement to whatever he had proposed, and that seemed to put him at ease. They seemed to start to say something, but they were quickly interrupted. Of course just then the teacher returned. Karkat had to return to the non-familiars side of the field.

Rose was happy to say she hadn’t planned on the only free seat left to be next to her, and she was respectful and didn’t ask about the conversation between him and the two Familiars when he had sat down besides her. In fact, though she was curious as to how the familiars knew him, she didn’t ask about it at all. And Dave said she pried into other people’s business too much. She didn’t pry at all!

“Karkat, when we have some time, would you mind introducing us to your friends? I must admit, I'm rather curious as to what they're like.” She didn't pry, just asked for an introduction. It was rather rude of him not to introduce them in the first place.

“I can ask them about it, but I don't think they'd want to. And it's not like you're missing much, they're assholes.” Karkat doesn't even look at her, he was too busy paying attention to the teacher as she introduced herself. “And frankly, until you learn to keep your nose out of other people's business I don't want to.”

“I understand, then. Could you do me one favor though?” Rose relented, for now, and instead chose to focus on a less important notion. Karkat glanced over at her with narrowed eyes; she didn't blame him for being wary. “Could you ask the vampire where she got her clothes? They're absolutely stunning!” She wasn't lying; though they weren't exactly her style, the vampires clothes looked amazing and Rose could appreciate good clothes.

“Kanaya makes her clothes herself. She always has.” Karkat answered, letting his wary expression drop and returning to his normal expression of annoyance.

“I see. Do you think she would mind if I requested a commission?” Rose sure hoped she would. From a distance, Rose couldn't tell it was handmade, but she doubted she would see it if she was any closer either. Otherwise the creator wouldn't wear them publically, she was sure.

“I don't know. I'll ask, but normally she only makes clothes for her friends.”

“I'll pay, of course, but I’ll understand if she doesn't want to. Thank you.” Rose decided it was time to focus on the teachers lecture, instead of her own conversation. Karkat did not respond, not that Rose was expecting him to, and the rest of class passed with only silence passing between them. Karkat walked off to talk to the vampire, Kanaya, after class ended.

He told Rose that Kanaya wouldn't mind meeting with her after school to discuss the commission. Rose found herself glad.

 

The rest of the day passed with no other occurrences of note, which was expected. There was nothing else to happen, as the day was just science and electives. (Elective classes were the only classes Rose didn't have with John, Dave, and Jade; she chose Psychology and a course on Curses and Hexes, which they didn't wish to take.)  
Rose left her last class tired and hungry, as Curses and Hexes were Void magics and she was a Light aptitude. She wasn’t good at Void magics as a result, and it took more concentration and effort to practice magic using them than normal. Not that she was supposed to practice them, but she got the feeling that she would need to know them in the future.

She didn't immediately go to her dorm, or the cafeteria, as she usually would have, however. She had to meet the Vampire Kanaya after class, and she wouldn't want to miss that. As well as her genuine interest in the fashion, and her interest in figuring out Karkat, Rose was also interested in the vampire herself. As well as being a rare familiar -vampires couldn't be familiars unless they were a familiar in the first place which generally never happened- she was quite beautiful as well. Rose was, if anything, hopelessly predictable when it came to women. Karkat didn't know that as of yet, however, and Dave wasn't aware of this meeting.

Rose left the building, walking over to the field, which still had the chairs out though it was mostly empty. Mostly, due to Kanaya and Nepeta still being there. Nepeta instantly catches Rose’s scent and turns around, waving unenthusiastically as she walks up. Kanaya turns as well, and she stands to meet Rose. Rose stops a small distance away, about three feet, and greets Kanaya.

“Hello. You're Kanaya, I presume? I am Rose. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Rose doesn't offer a hand to shake; she is aware that it would be rude to a familiar. Kanaya gives a small smile, more like one a customer service worker would give to a customer than an honest one, but Rose took what she could get.

“Yes, I am Kanaya. And the pleasure is all mine, I'm sure. This is Nepeta, though you probably were already aware. She was wondering if she could ask you a favor before we work out the commission.” Kanaya gestures to her friend, who wasn't really paying attention. Kanaya elbows her gently, startling her but still effectively getting her attention. Nepeta nods.

“Yeah. I was gonna ask if you would give this to Karkat? It's a home remedy for helping him sleep normally. Just some herbs and stuff, from the old world as those are much better for magic folk, Feferi and I planted in the school garden. Also has some lavender, too, cause it smells nicer than the rest of the stuff. Tell him to soak it in hot water. It's a tea, basically, but it tastes gross. One cup will last a while, so tell him to use all of it. I’ll get him more later.” Nepeta handed Rose a clear bottle, filled with leaves and flower petals that she recognized from her own garden at home, carefully avoiding making physical contact. “And tell him I didn't let Gamzee near it, too, I know that will be a concern.”

“Okay, I will. Is it really so strong? How?” Rose asked, and Nepeta shrugged.

“Feferi has strong Life magics. She does some stuff to the plants that make them better. I don't know what she does, but it doesn't matter.” Nepeta turned around and started walking away. “You guys have fun with commission discussions and stuff, I'm going hunting.” She transformed into a cat and jumped away towards the forest, leaving Kanaya and Rose alone.

“Be careful, Nep!” Kanaya called after her, before turning back to Rose. “Yes, well. Let's get down to business, then.” The two talked for a while, about what Kanaya would be able to do and what Rose would want. In the end, they work out a deal that they both could uphold. They’re talk continues even after they've finished discussing the commission, and Rose finds that she enjoys the company more than she thought she would. They agree to meet after school again the next day for measurements to be done, as Rose needed to get dinner before the cafeteria closes and Kanaya had homework to do, and they go their separate ways.

Rose could feel the impending teasing from Dave.

And, unfortunately, she would most likely have to face it. Her word was given that she would give Nepeta’s sleeping herbs to Karkat, and there’s no way she wouldn’t do so before finishing her day. She hoped that Dave and John were out at this point, but she wouldn’t know. Then again, they would be able to ensure that Karkat was awake for her delivery. She would message them, but phones were prohibited outside the dorm rooms. She wasn’t a stickler for rules, but magic tended to act really iffy around electronics and it’s better to be safe rather than sorry. She would just have to knock on their door and wait for someone to answer.

And so, when reaching the room belonging to her dear brother and their friends, she knocked. No immediate answer, and a few seconds more wait led her to knock again. Repeat, but the third stream of knocks didn’t cease until she heard a growling from the other side of the door. She smiled in the way that so annoyed her brother, and Karkat glared at her as he opened the door.

“What do you fucking want, shitbag?” He was obviously annoyed Rose had woken him, she assumed he had been sleeping, and Rose took out the bottle of herbs that were oh so fragrant now.

“Delivery for Karkat, is he present in this moment or will I have to come another time?” Rose gently shook the bottle, before holding it out to him. “Nepeta requested me to give this to you, and I thought you would be happier to have this sooner rather than later. She said it was similar to a tea in taking it, and it was for your sleeping problems. Use all of it, it will last a while so one cup is enough until Nepeta can give you more.” Rose attempts to recite all the things Nepeta had told her, and she feels she had given the gist of it. Karkat takes the bottle, and sniffs it as if to check if the contents were truly some herbs and nothing else.

“Gamzee hasn’t been near this, right? I don’t smell anything suspect, but…” Karkat trails off, frown clear on his face though it wasn’t entirely directed at Rose.

“Nepeta said she did not let him near it, I recall.” She responded. Karkat nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.

“Will the lunch ladies make the tea for me if I asked?” He questioned, and Rose shrugged.

“I don’t know, Dave is the only one who’s ever received a response from them. I have stuff to make tea back in my dorm, however, so I can assist you. I just need to attend dinner first.” Karkat looks put off by the offer, though he agrees. The two of them made their way to the cafeteria, where they find that John and Dave were just getting ready to leave. Dave was just getting an extra plate, for Karkat Rose presumed, when he noticed you walk in.

“Whoa, you got Karkat out of the room? How’d you do that?” John asked as Dave walked over, plate in hand. Rose mimes a curtsy, with a vain smile.

“I’m quite amazing, I’ll have you know.” Karkat rolls his eyes. “But in truth, I just delivered a tea his friend wanted him to try. I’m going to assist him in making it as well, you should join us.” John grins, almost bouncing with excitement.

“Could I bring over a movie to watch? We could do a slumber party! We don’t have class tomorrow, anyways, so that works, right?” He asks, and Rose frowns for a millisecond before Dave interjects.

“No, you’re not bringing your shitty taste in movies anywhere near me again. Rose, if we’re watching movies, let me choose?” Dave gives Karkat the plate he was holding, before stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“My taste in movies is not shitty! But fine, I wont pick the movie! Lets let Karkat pick!” John points at Karkat, who had been watching the conversation in silence. Rose had honestly forgotten he was there. Karkat jumped, Johns preposition obviously surprising him.

“I don't have any movies with me. I didn't expect to need them.” He said as Dave shrugged.

“Doesn't matter, Rose has Netflix on her laptop. But I'm cool with Karkat choosing the movie. Anything he picks would be better than some shitty Nick Cage Film.” he said, and Rose nods in agreement. Karkat looks uncomfortable, but Rose doesn't let him voice his doubts.

“It's settled, then. Tea and movies at my dorm, and then some classic sleepover shenanigans.” She smiled. “A great way to celebrate a beginning of a new year, isn't it?” John cheers, and Dave nods. Karkat, still looking uncomfortable, shrugs.

Together the four set out to Rose’s dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took ages. Well, not really ages I was just too lazy to edit it it was done in March.  
> Oh yeah, also, sorry for not replying to comments I see them and they make me happy, its just I get kinda anxious when talking/replying to people, so I end up not replying at all... Again, apologies.


End file.
